The discipline of fasting

Over many years Christians have fasted as part of their rule of life. So, what is a fast? Why fast? How do I fast? These are the questions we’re going to explore in this short course about fasting

Fasting is rooted in the traditions of our faith.

You can find many examples in the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments. Across many generations Christian's have fasted but in recent years we have seen a decline in this discipline. There are many reasons for this - health and lifestyle and our obsession with food and cooking are an obvious few and then there’s the Fast gap in Christian teaching.

So, what is a Holy Fast?

It’s abstaining from something in order to discipline the mind, body and soul to focus upon God. By giving something up fasting carves out the space for God’s creativity. It is a mark of our humbling ourselves before God and seeking him with our whole heart. Fasting is always accompanied by prayer.

In the Liverpool Fast, we’re focussing on giving up food, but fasting can be abstaining from anything that occupies too big a space in our life. For example, shopping, social media, car travel, TV.

The space or time that is created by our fast is then given over to God in prayer, Bible reading and social action.

As you think about how you can Fast this short course gives you some biblical principles of fasting alongside some dos and dont's.